"A people who take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote generations."
--Lord Thomas B. Macaulay

Happy Memorial Day.

As I mentioned once before on this blog, both sides of my family come from Montana and have been there for a number of generations. I found out back in September that the Clark side of the family came to Montana from Red Wing, Minnesota. This being Memorial Day and all, it might not be a bad idea to tell a bit more of that story.

Yesterday I went down to Red Wing to find the grave of William W. Clark. I was able to get ahold of the name of the cemetery as well as lot and block number...and since I don't really have much in the way of passed relatives out here, figured it might be a good idea.

I don't know much about W.W. Clark, but here's what I do know. He was one of the first to settle the Red Wing area back in the 1850s. He studied law at the newly founded Hamline University (which at that time was in Red Wing), got married, had a child, and soon became a clerk of court in Goodhue County.

Then Fort Sumter was attacked. Minnesota's governor was in Washington at the time and immediately wired home his call to arms. The "Goodhue Volunteers" thus became one of the first Civil War units organized outside of the standing military. William Clark was among them. He and the rest of the company kissed their families goodbye and headed north to Fort Snelling. It was there that he would contract typhoid fever die at the age of 29.

Which I guess is the reason for this post. Memorial Day wasn't created for barbeques, RV trips and Formula 1. It's a single day we set aside to pay respects to men and women who have served the United States. And while I don't claim to have been laying flowers at the cemetery every Memorial Day myself, after this weekend, I plan on starting.